Legislation targets 'bath salts'

A product called bath salts has been making headlines because some people are abusing the substance like a drug.

But this isn’t your grandmother’s bath salts.

Gary Davis, Drug Enforcement Administration assistant agent-in-charge of the Pittsburgh division office, said the bath salts in question are not the same as those a person would purchase at retail stores to add to bath water.

These bath salts are typically sold online, in convenience stores and in drug paraphernalia stores. He said the product costs between $20 and $50. The product label states that the substance is not for human consumption, but people are using it as a drug instead.

“What’s happening is there are substances out there and these substances are not illegal under the federal system,” he said.

The bath salts used as a drug contain two chemicals — mephedrone and MDPV — which are both hallucinogenic stimulants. The chemicals are a target of legislation in the state Senate aiming to ban them. Davis said these products do not list the ingredients. They are also called blizzard, cloud nine, vanilla sky and light lighting.

“That’s the scary thing about this,” he said. “You have no idea what you are putting into your body.”

Several states have similar legislation in an effort to ban the chemicals. Florida, Louisiana and Alabama have already passed legislation to ban the substances, Davis said.

Davis explained that the drug mimics the effects of ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamines. There have been reports across the country of people getting sick from the substances. Davis said in some cases it has led to paranoid behavior or seizures. Some people have injured others and even stabbed people while on the drugs, he said.

“Commonly people are snorting it,” he said. “They have also smoked it, ate it, injected it and the effects from it range pretty widely depending.”

The measure was passed by the House earlier this month and is in a Senate committee.

State Sen. Rich Kasunic’s spokesman, Will Dando, said Kasunic will support the measure to ban the substances.

“There’s definitely some published safety concerns,” Dando said. “From what we have heard the side effects are significant.”